Gail seeks $1.8bn in damages from Sefe for non-delivery of LNG

India's Gail has filed a lawsuit in London against Sefe Marketing & Trading Singapore, seeking about $1.8bn in damages due to non-supply of LNG cargoes under a long-term contract, the Indian state-owned company said on December 1 in a stock exchange filing.

The lawsuit stems from a 20-year deal that Gail agreed to with Gazprom Marketing and Singapore (GMTS) in 2012 for purchases of an average of 2.5mn tonnes/year of LNG. GMTS was a unit of Gazprom Germania, now called Sefe, but the parent company gave up ownership after Western sanctions were imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Sefe failed to deliver LNG cargoes to Gail, affecting its gas sales. Sefe stopped supplying LNG in May 2022 and the deliveries resumed in May this year.